Zarius races with Edward across the sea of grass before them. The creature couldn't have gotten far with the gnome it had snatched, but that blink ability gave it a solid head start and made it nearly impossible to track. They basically had to search for the occasional spot of blood left behind by the creature as it blinked in and out of the grass. 

The wound on his side throbbed in pain as they ran, but he did his best to ignore it. He glances at Edward, he had gotten clawed a few times too. Was he hurting? Maybe they should stop and address it first. Time was of the essence but he would much rather prioritize their own survival over the random merchant's. 

"Are you injured?" He shouts at Edward as they pause to search the grass for the next blood spot.

"If this thing is taking that merchant back to its lair, we may be at a disadvantage! It might be best to address our wounds before we go any further!" He says that, but he knows he doesn't have much in his bag to work with and he was not a healer himself. Edward had shown some skill with magic, perhaps he had such abilities. 

Edward nods at Zarius, his idea is sound. It would be better to heal our wounds and to regain our energy while we can before charging into a very dangerous situation. Edward places his hand against his chest and a bright golden light flashes into him, his wounds behind his back slowly healing. “Let me heal your wounds Zarius.” Edward places his hands on Zarius’s side and golden light shines forth, washing over the wounds on Zarius’s side and is slowly closing up the wounds there. 
Edward says, “It looks like we can’t charge in blind. A nest of displacer beasts is a very dangerous place to be in. We might need a plan. I’ll go and see to the other merchants stuck in the wagon. I’ll heal their wounds first, point them in the direction of the nearest town and then we can go to find that gnome.”
Edward walks up to the wagon and can see the merchants trembling in fear, still terrified despite the beasts running off. Edward begins to pull away the makeshift barricade they had made to protect themselves from the beasts, “We’re here to help, I can heal any wounds you have.” The merchants nod and show Edward their wounds for him to heal. Edward places his hand on their wounds and the wounds close up.

A wave of relief washes over Zarius as he sees Edward does indeed have healing magic. That makes this situation seem less dire for them at least. So long as they could reach the gnome before he was eaten they could probably deal with any injuries he had sustained. 

"I agree, we do need a plan but we need to act quickly as well."

He watches Edward head back towards the wagons. Backtracking wasn't something he was keen on but Edward had a point. If no one from the caravan made it back to town safely then that would be worse than just losing one of them. He couldn't do much to help with healing though. Instead, he scouts ahead, making sure not to go too far so that Edward could catch up after he was done with the merchants. 

The merchants shower Edward in gratitude for his aid. Gathering up their courage and reassuring the horses, the merchants follow Edward's directions and head off towards town. 

Following the blood spots, Zarius notices a pattern to the movements. Going off that hunch, he manages to find a more solid trail to follow which leads into a stand of tangled trees. Seems the displacer beast had stopped blinking around once it felt it had lost them and was in the safe cover of the tangled underbrush. 

Zarius peeks up over the grass. "I think it went this way!" He shouts back to Edward and waves so he can make his way over. 

Edward chases after Zarius, seeing that he had found the tracks of the displacer beasts. They keep on following the tracks, which leads them deeper in to the forest. The trees are so densely packed that their foliage blocks most of the sunlight when they go in deeper. Edward can see that the tracks are leading to some kind of glade and sees an opening that leads to it.
Edward silently moves at the edges of the glade and peeks through the foliage, seeing that there is a group of displacer beasts prowling around the perimeter of the glade. Edward can also hear the yelling of the known that is coming from the center of the glade, where it seems that most of the beasts are gathered there. He sees that the beasts made some kind of nesting ground that is made from the wooden chunks of wagons, tree branches, and metal sheets they may have took from some kind of ruin. 
Edward moves back and tells Zarius, “Looks like there are about seven beasts in there. They have the gnome in the center of the glade, where they set up some kind of nest. It seems that we have to charge in there and take them all down. We don’t have anything that could teleport us in and out to grab the gnome.”

The glade itself was fairly open with some rocky outcroppings. The ground slopped up towards the side opposite of their position before it was overtaken with dense foliage again. Some of the beasts were lying down while others were pacing back and forth across the glade. 

A particularly large displacer beast lounges on top of one of the large slabs of stone jutting out of the ground, surveying its domain with a mean glare. The creature was muscular and had many scars marking up its black glossy coat. 

Zarius frowns. "There are too many, we will be severely outnumbered." He thinks about what options they have at their disposal. 

The gnome was cowering in the nest with one beast batting at him like he was a cornered mouse. They weren't immediately eating him, but who knew how long that would last. 

"I can make a noise over there to draw their attention." He points across to the other side of the glade. "It might buy us some time to grab the gnome and at least get him to somewhere he can hide."

Scanning the glade, he spots a crevasse between some large rocks. "That gap is too small for these beasts to get into. If we can create an opening the gnome can squeeze in there. That would at least get him out of the way while we deal with the creatures."

Edward nods, “I’m good with the plan. I hope you’ll be able to escape from them as soon as make that distraction. Don’t want my new friend to get hurt after all. I’ll try to grab the gnome while they’re distracted. I got a couple tricks up my sleeve, maybe while you distract them, I can weaken them while getting the gnome out. But I’ll be careful.” 
Zarius silently moves around the glade to the opposite side. Edward waits for the signal that Zarius is about to make. A loud banging noise sounds throughout the glade and the beasts move their heads to face where Zarius was hiding to make the noise. As they are leaving the center of the glade where the gnome is at, Edward grabs two small statues of gargoyle and holds on to them. As the beasts are near the other side of the glade, Edward rushes out towards the gnome. He tries to be silent as he crosses the glade to reach the gnome but the gnome sees Edward and exclaims in relief, “Ah, adventurer, help me! Get me out of here!” 
Edward groans in frustration as several of the beasts turn their heads and sees Edward, who is a couple of feet near the gnome.

Sneaking silently through the thick underbrush around the glade, Zarius gets to a good position up the hill overlooking the pack of displacer beasts. He surveys the scene for a moment then sets his distraction into action. Zarius by no means is adept in the casting of magic. That said, his much more talented sister did manage to teach him a thing or two. After much yelling and throwing of items at the wall. 

He casts the little spell and causes a banging noise against a tree to his left, hoping it will draw the attention of the displacer beasts. It does start working but then the gnome shouts and some of the creatures turn their attention back towards Edward who had broke cover. 

Dammit. Never work with civilians. 

Zarius jumps out of the bushes himself and waves his arms. "Hey! Over here!"

Three of the back snarl and start running his way. The larger displacer beast rises from its perch atop the jutting stone and glowers down at the shouting gnome. 

Zarius sees the big one get to its feet. He picks up a stone and whips it at its head. "Leave the gnome! I will give you something to chase!"

The boss beast snarls and lets out an angry roar and starts stalking down the rock, turning its attention away from the gnome if only for a brief moment.

Edward can see that a 6v2 isn’t quite the situation one wants to find themselves in. The gnome doesn’t count since he doesn’t seem like the fighting type. Edward throws the two statues into the air and shouts some kind of word in the celestial language. The two statues grow larger and larger as they fly through the air.
Edward hears Zarius make a ruckus and sees that the bigger displacer beast, presumably the leader of this pack, is distracted by Zarius. Edward summons a glyph of golden light from his hand and throws it at the air above where most of the displacer beasts are concentrated at. The glyph grows in size and hangs in the air above the beasts. Rays of golden light shoots down from the glyph and pierces through the hide of the beasts. They all roar in pain and the pack leader turns around to see two adult sized gargoyles slam into the group of displacer beasts.
Edward shouts, “Take care of the smaller displacer beasts! Keep them occupied.” The gargoyles nod and begin to claw at the rest of the displacer beasts. The pack leader growls and blinks in front of Edward, ready to swipe at him.

As the light rains down like a barrage of arrows, Zarius instinctively takes cover. Light magic and things of the divine always made him nervous. Too many bad experiences with those who use such magic. But to be fair, magic in general was something that he had few good experiences with. 

He shakes it off and sees the gargoyles distract the smaller displacers beasts while the pack leader blinks over to and lashes out at Edward. He probably had it distracted enough for the time being. 

Zarius springs over to the gnome and drags him over to the hole he had spotted earlier. "Get in and keep out of sight. Do not come out unless we tell you to. And for Lunala's sake, do not make a sound." Zarius hisses at him as he shoves the gnome back into the hole, out of reach of the displacer beasts for the time being. 

He turns just as one of the smaller ones blinks before him. It swipes at his chest and he reacts by deflecting its claws with his open palm. That was too close. The large cat jumps at him with its fangs bared and he dashes around to its side and jabs it in the flank, bypassing the end of the ribcage and hitting it where many organs were unprotected. It yowls and blinks away. Probably not for good, but at least for now. 

Edward was expecting the pack leader to go after him, so he steps to the side to avoid the claw swing. Edward knows that he can’t protect the gnome from the displacer beasts, so he does his best to distract the pack leader so that Zarius can take him away after seeing Zarius running over towards the gnome. 
The pack leader takes another swipe at Edward, who manages to parry the attack before lifting his hand from his staff to summon dark blue mist from his palms. The mist shoots out and covers the pack leader, who is trying to avoid the mist. The mist follows the leader and seems to be sapping the strength out of the beast. The leader moves much slower now and its body seems emaciated now. It warily circles around Edward as it seems that the human has drained it of its life force. Edward smirks at the beast for acting so cowardly after it tried to kill him and charges forward to swing his staff coward. The staff hits the beast and burns the fur on its skull. It howls in pain and rage before trying to pounce at Edward but didn’t muster enough strength to jump upwards, allowing Edward to smack it along its face in midair.

The gargoyles were still distracting the remaining five displacer beasts, the gnome was hiding, and Edward was soloing the pack leader. Zarius considers what to prioritize and decides to run over to aid Edward. The sooner they took down the pack leader, the more likely the remaining displacer beasts would flee. 

He circles around to approach from the other side of the large stones the pack leader had jumped down from. He creeps around it silently and then crouches and waits for Edward to create an opening. That opening comes when Edward lands a hit on the skull of the large cat. He darts forward with a burst of adrenaline and aims a blow right into the joint of the hind leg. 

The displacer beasts roars in pain as a loud cracking noise echoes through the glade and the other displacer beasts pause briefly only to get dive bombed by the gargoyles again. Two of the displacer beasts have had enough of this harrowing and blink away, but another one blinks onto the back of a gargoyle and attempts to bring it down to the ground for the others to mob. 

The pack leader lashes its tails out and Zarius gets struck in the side by the spines. He winces but follows up his first hit against the leg with a sharp jab to the creature's sensitive flank. The cat whips around with its fangs bared and tries to swipe at Zarius, but leaves an opening for Edward with its side exposed. 

Edward nods at Zarius in thanks for the help. He appreciates the man’s skill in fighting and hopes that he would be a good ally in the future. Edward swings his staff towards the flank of the beast and the impact leaves a smoldering scorch mark on the hide of the beast. The pack leader snarls in pain and howls towards the direction of the other beats. 

Two of the displacer beasts that were distracted by the gargoyles turn their heads towards their direction. They blink out of existence and apparently right behind Edward and Zarius. One of them swipes at Edward’s leg and sweeps him off of his feet. Edward rolls away to the side and gets up. He summons blue mist from his hand and touches the beast who had struck him. The blue mist seeps into the beast before seeping back out. The mist seems to have a faint light green shine when it seeps back out of the beast. The beast seems to sway as if drunk and stumbles backward. 

Edward collects the mist back into his hand and feels invigorated as he absorbs the green energy. He turns around to see the other displacer beast teaming up with the pack leader to swipe at Zarius. Edward rushes at the pack leader and shoves it away from Zarius with his shoulder.

Facing down two of these large felines was not something the tiefling was keen on. Thankfully, Edward was as reliable as ever as he shoves the pack leader away from him. Glancing around, it seemed like they might actually survive this whole incident. Maybe he shouldn't speak so soon, as a pair of claws swipe as his face.

Zarius jumps back as the displacer beast blinks from in front of him and then reappears behind him. It pounces on his back and it bears its weight down on his shoulders as its claws dig into his skin. He jabs his head back in time for the creature's jaws to close down on his horn rather than the back of his neck. He reaches back and grabs onto the creature's hide and the two tussle, eventually rolling across the ground.

The teifling, unfortunately, is much smaller than the displacer beast and ends up pinned under its body face down, the only thing sparing him from the creature's fangs being his horn jammed between its teeth. It isn't a pleasant feeling and he starts to worry that the cat will either break his horn off or use it as leverage to snap his neck. His salvation comes in the form of a rock hitting the displacer beast on the head, having been tossed by the gnome standing bravely while his legs tremble in fear. 

"G-get away, you damned beast! Go on! Get!" The gnome shouts at it, throwing a stick at its back this time. 

The cat swings its head towards him and snarls, baring its long fangs. It was enough of a distraction though for Zarius to twist around under its paws and get his arms around its neck and his legs locked around its torso in an awkward hug. He jams his shoulder into its throat, strangling it as it thrashes and tries to get him off. After a few heart-poundingly tense moments, the cat eventually slumps down with its tongue lolling out the side of its mouth.  

Edward faces the displacer beast leader one on one, circling around it. The leader snarls and gnashes its teeth at Edward, trying to goad Edward into making a mistake. Edward just bids his time, preparing to intercept it if it goes for Zarius or the gnome. He them lifts his hand and blue mist shoots out from his palm, wrapping around the leader and entangling it in a web of spirit energy. 

Edward then touches the leader with his hand and drains its life force using the blue mist. The leader tries to bite at Edward but can’t due to being restrained and also feeling sluggish from the vampiric touch. Edward then steps to the side and raises his staff to slam the creature in the head. It hits, leaving behind a scorch mar on its fur.

He hits it again and again, wailing on this creature. The creature tries to blink out of the way of Edward’s hits but can’t due to the many spells that Edward has cast upon it. Edward shows no mercy to this creature and to finish this displacer beast off, summons a spear of radiant light from his hand a thrusts it through the skull of the beast.

Zarius untangles himself from the other cat and sits up with a huff. He looks around at the scene. A calm breeze rustles through the trees. 

"You...you did it!" The gnome exclaims as he runs up to Edward and starts shaking his hand energetically. "Thank you! Thank you! You saved my life!"

The tiefling pushes the body of the unconscious creature off his leg and gets up onto his feet. "We should get you back to your caravan before anything else happens." He walks over and looks down at the pulverized pack leader then back at Edward. "Good work. Let us get the hell out of here."

He heads back toward the road with the gnome following them closely. His body aches and he definitely has some scratches, but nothing a good few days of rest wouldn't fix. 

Once they get back to the other merchants and their wagons, he looks to Edward. "If every time we meet we end up fighting some weird creatures then maybe I should start avoiding you." He teases tiredly.

All in all, the paladin has been a great asset to travel with. He just hoped his joke wasn't true and he carried some sort of familial curse.